Thursday, December 27, 2012

Today, I received an early morning telephone call from a doctor in India, who was contacted by a couple in distress, who had just found out that their baby was not genetically related to them. The doctor that they contacted for help, did not perform IVF, nor did she hire a surrogate on their behalf. This couple as well as the doctor had no idea that they will have to go through the adoption process, as they have already created a bond with the baby. I gave the doctor the telephone number as well as e-mail address of attorneys in India, who can help.

Many of you are not alone, and should try to connect with each other so that you all have moral support while you are in India, then get professional help once you return to your country of origin. When this happens to anyone, it is life altering. Many people lose their livelihood, as well as the relationship of their other partner when something this trying happens in life. When we started out on our journey to surrogacy in India, it was not a 2.3 billion dollar a year industry, so we were not aware of what was happening in the background. No amount of research will prepare you for this. If you are not involved in this business or if you do not know someone this has happened to, then you are not aware of the ramifications of this situation. This is something that is not blogged about nor talked about in the surrogacy community, for obvious reasons. For those of us, who have had children, and DNA testing was not required, it will leave us with questions unless we do DNA testing on our own, which we have now chose to do. Whatever the outcome is, I am certain for all of us, intended parents nothing will change. All of our children deserve an explanation as to how they arrived here whether they are genetically related or not. We have decided to contact our doctor, and demand that all sperm and embryo's be destroyed at this point, as we are finished creating our family. We do not want to have an inkling that there is another child born via our genetic material at all. This was something that was never on our mind previously. As we all know, you have no legal recourse in India, as surrogacy is unregulated.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

I am back from India, and I am already missing the warm weather. Surrogacy in India is still thriving and regulation is still on the plate. Many in the legal world, are not sure if the process will truly be regulated, or if the situation will be diluted. I was able to visit a number of surrogacy homes in Delhi, and it looks like a number of doctor's are stepping up to the plate, as far as clean and safe surrogate housing. While visiting one surrogate house, it was impressive to see the women with their children in tow. The doctor who ran that surrogate house said that the women feel better having the their children with them for the duration of the pregnancy. With that said, there is still a lot of concern especially from local groups in regards to the growing rates of surrogates who have died after giving birth.

According to embassy officials, intended parent's going to India for surrogacy still need to be as vigilant as possible when seeking out a doctor to help in the process of creating your family. A number of cases have come up where the intended parents DNA tests have came back negative, meaning one or both of the intended parent's DNA did not match that of their baby or babies. If this does come up, you will be required to adopt your baby and that process in India takes about 6 months.

Surrogacy in India, is still a good option for many people. Intended parent's should talk to other's who have gone through the process if they are able to, before you begin your journey to parenthood.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

I arrived this morning and quickly got into the full swing of India mode. My plane was delayed by 2 hours and my driver was nowhere to be found when I arrived in Delhi. Therefore I went with a local taxi guy who drove his beat up car as if it were a race car. I was waiting for my head to hit the roof of his car at any moment. He theen took me to the wrong Hilton that I had booked and then I left my iPhone in his car. Luckily for me I kept his receipt and the folks at Hilton called the cab company and for a price he retuned the telephone.

I am currently at another Hilton property which is very run down and they are charging me $250 per night and they claim it is a 4 star. They are a 1/2 star kind of place. The room is smoky and the wifi works in spurts. I am looking forward to meetings that have been arranged so that I can share with folks any new information in regards to surrogacy in India.